I gave some short briefs but here’s the extensive ones from what came from both the American and Japanese. Note though hard to give much from the American considering their are embargoes on everything outside of the live blogs until Monday:
Press Release of NA Conference
Nintendo Announces ‘Significant Increase’ in Q4 Wii Supplies over 2007
NOTE: Multimedia available below
REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo today disclosed a number of surprises, including new games, the ability to use the Wii™ console to chat with friends near and far, and the expansion of the popular Club Nintendo rewards program to North America.
Continuing its commitment to supply new game experiences for every level of player, Nintendo revealed a wide range of games for the 2008 holiday season and beyond. A number of games are slated for 2009, including a new Punch-Out!! ™ and Sin & Punishment 2 for Wii, and Fire Emblem™: Shadow Dragon and Mario & Luigi™ RPG 3 for Nintendo DS™. Consumers also can expect a new “Personal Trainer” series of titles designed to help users enrich their lives and learn new skills in fun and interesting ways.
Nintendo also announced that North American supplies of the Wii video game console between October and December will see a significant increase from 2007’s levels, and that Nintendo DS will also be available in greater abundance than ever before.
“We have new games and new experiences for every kind of player this holiday season, and that will certainly fuel increased interest in Wii and Nintendo DS,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “While there’s no way to gauge total demand for our hardware systems, we’re trying to satisfy as many of those players as possible.”
The new Wii Speak™ Channel arrives on Nov. 16 and uses the Wii Speak™, a microphone that sits on top of your television. This accessory is sold separately at an MSRP of $29.99. People who buy the microphone are given a code that allows them to download the Wii Speak Channel from the Wii Shop Channel at no charge. The Wii Speak lets people in up to four locations who have traded Friend Codes chat with one another at no extra cost. When you use Wii Speak in real time, your Mii™ appears on your TV screen and mimics your chat. You also can leave audio messages for your friends and family members or use Wii Speak to narrate captions for your photos.
Gamers have longed for the expansion of Club Nintendo to North America for years, and now Nintendo is making it a reality for everyone. Club Nintendo rewards Nintendo loyalists who complete surveys and register Nintendo products with loyalty coins that can be redeemed for exclusive items available only to Club Nintendo members. Club Nintendo is set to debut in North America this holiday season.
Key software available for Wii this holiday season includes:
* Wii Music™: It’s a new Wii experience that launches on Oct. 20 and gives you the ability to play a wide variety of musical instruments by using the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers to mimic the motions used to play real instruments. Everyone in the family will enjoy jamming together, while music fans will enjoy creating their own fresh, stylized takes on a variety of songs. Songs range from classical favorites like Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” to pop hits like “Material Girl” or “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” to Nintendo standards like the Super Mario Bros.® theme.
* Animal Crossing™: City Folk: This game lets you live your life in a virtual community that’s all your own. You can interact with the fun characters in your town, customize everything from your house to your clothing and even chat with other friends in the game using the Wii Speak. Animal Crossing: City Folk launches on Nov. 16.
* WiiWare delivers great new games directly to Wii consoles that are connected to the Internet. Nintendo’s downloadable game service will see games like:
• Tetris Party: This game will feature 18 game modes, including 10 never-before-seen single-player and multiplayer variations of Tetris. Some modes will use the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote and the Wii Balance Board™.
• Strong Bad Episode 3: This third episode in the series features humorous story-driven game play, music-themed collectibles and achievements and an old-school side scrolling shoot ‘em up mini-game, as well as a special celebrity guest appearance by rock gods Limozeen!
• World of Goo: This title is an award-winning, physics-based puzzle/construction game. Grab living, squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins and giant tongues.
• Cave Story: This title is an action-adventure game with new, exclusive content and features created only for the WiiWare version.
• Boingz: Developed by the award-winning studio NinjaBee and published by RealNetworks®, Inc., Boingz introduces players to bendy, stretchy little critters who’ve found themselves scattered about an alien world. Using the Wii Remote, players can grab, stretch and fling the rubber-band bodies of the Boingz to bounce them around the environments and help them find their way home.
Key games planned for Wii in 2009 include:
* Punch-Out!!: Nintendo is reviving one of its most storied and popular franchises with the first new Punch-Out!! boxing game in 15 years. Players will once again follow the exploits of the up-and-coming challenger, Little Mac, and take on a series of opponents, including favorites from the past like Glass Joe and King Hippo.
* Sin & Punishment 2: The announcement of a sequel to one of the most popular Japanese import titles ever is a dream come true for avid Nintendo fans. This new sequel blends intuitive Wii Remote pointing controls with the shooting and sword-swinging game play that made the original an instant classic and fan favorite.
Some Nintendo products available this fall for Nintendo DS include:
* Personal Trainer™: Cooking: This title launches on Nov. 24 as the first in Nintendo’s new Personal Trainer series. Personal Trainer: Cooking includes more than 200 recipes from around the world and transforms the Nintendo DS into an electronic, interactive cookbook, complete with a glossary of terms and even instructional videos. In 2009, the Personal Trainer series will expand with Personal Trainer™: Math, a collection of basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division drills based on the Kageyama method. Meanwhile, Personal Trainer™: Walking will introduce a wireless pedometer, letting consumers not only track every step they take, but also turn walking into interactive entertainment.
* Pokémon™ Ranger: Shadows of Almia: On Nov. 10, this new installment in the Pokémon Ranger series allows you to use the power of Pokémon to protect nature and help people in need as you strive to become a Top Ranger. Use the DS stylus to encircle and capture Pokémon with the “Capture Styler” as you explore the vast new Almia region.
Key games planned for Nintendo DS in 2009 include:
* Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon: A reinvention of the original NES™ titles with revamped graphics and intuitive touch control, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon will finally introduce longtime fans to the stories that gave birth to the series nearly 20 years ago in Japan, while introducing the Fire Emblem franchise to a broader audience of strategy and chess fans. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon also reveals the back story of Marth, the original lead character in the Fire Emblem series introduced and made popular in North America by the Super Smash Bros.® series of fighting games.
* Mario & Luigi RPG 3: The acclaimed Mario & Luigi series returns with another hilarious action role-playing game. Join the Mario Bros. as their travels take them far and wide.
* Rhythm Heaven™: If you can snap your fingers in time to music, you’re ready to play this simple but infectious rhythm game. Just tap your stylus on the touch screen to the beat of the music.
Nintendo has a strong lineup of legacy games and accessories that have continued selling well, even a year after they launched. These include Super Mario Galaxy™, the Wii Zapper™ accessory, Wii Fit™, Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl and Mario Kart™Wii. These five products are expected to remain in high demand as shoppers look for ways to make their holiday dollars go further.
DSi
Of particular note at the site is a spec list. Here’s how the new system compares to the current DS Lite.
Screen Size
DSi: 3.25 inch
DS Lite: 3.0 inch
Screen
Both TFT LCD with 260,000 colors
System Size
DSi: 137 x 74.9 x 18.9mm
DS Lite: 133 x 73.9 x 21.5mm
Touch pen
DSi: 92mm length
DS Lite: 87.5mm length
Power source
DSi: DSi AC adapter and special battery pack
DS Lite: DS Lite AC adapter and special battery pack
Weight
DSi: 214g (battery pack and touch pen included)
DS Lite: 218g (battery pack, touch pen, GBA connector cover included)
Charge time
DSi: 2 hours 30 minutes
DS Lite: 3 hours
Battery life
** listed by screen brightness, lowest to highest
DSi: 9-14 hours, 8-12, 6-9, 4-6, 3-4
DS Lite: 15-19 hours, 10-15, 7-11, 5-8
Compatible software
DSi: DS software, DSi software
DS Lite: Game Boy Advance software, DS software
Input method
DSi: DS card slot, SD memory card slot, AC adapter connector, stereo head phone/mic connector
DSLite: DS card slot, GBA card slot, AC adapter connector, stereo head phone/mic connector
The spec page also confirms something that we speculated in our original article — the DSi will not be able to accept peripherals that attach to the Game Boy Advance slot.
In addition to housing a bunch of pics of the new hardware, the special site Nintendo set up offers a few extra details that were missing from our original report.
As reported earlier, the DSi will ship to Japan in white and black varieties on November 1. It will carry a 18,900 yen price point, making it 900 yen less than the PSP (both the current model and the 3000 series revision) and 2,100 yen above the current DS Lite.
The 18,900 yen will get you the DSi system, an AC adapter, two touch pens (extra length, as you can see in the spec sheet), a “simple start guide” of some form, an instruction manual, and a support book. That’s right, three booklets!
In addition to the physical changes, Nintendo has updated the system’s interface menu to reflect some newly included software. You’ll initially be able to access the following programs from the main menu: DSi Camera, DSi Sound, DSi Shop, Picto Chat, and download play. The menu also has icons for starting up a game off cartridge and accessing system settings.
The DSi’s menu is akin to the Wii Channel interface in that new programs can be downloaded and added to the interface. It’s unclear how many programs can be downloaded, but the interface does provide an “all view” button allowing you to view all included software at a glance.
Select DSi Camera from the menu, and you’ll quickly transform your system into a digital camera. Pics that you’ve taken can be transferred via SD card to your PC and cell phone. You can also send snaps between two DSi systems wirelessly.
In typical Nintendo fashion, the camera will include some game elements. Among the fun features are a facial blending tool, a method for changing facial expressions, and a means of measuring similarity between two faces. The camera itself can be set to take pics in a variety of modes, including normal mode, “trick” mode, and frame mode.
Select the DSi Sound option from the menu, and you’ll have yourself a mini music player, complete with a variety of visualizers and audio tools. The system can remove vocals, allowing you to sing along for yourself. Nintendo also appears to have included a built in Band Bros. of sorts, as you can tap buttons along with the rhythm in order to overlay sounds. You can also record 10 second audio samples through the system’s microphone for use in your music sessions.
Unfortunately, those looking for MP3 support here are out of luck. The DSi Sound program will only support AAC format.
Finally, there’s the DSi Shop, a program that serves as the DS version of the Wii Shopping Channel. You’ll be able to download free and paid programs from this under the “Nintendo DSiWare” label. Two free programs have been mentioned by Nintendo, an internet browser and a digital notebook that lets you create moving comics.
Japan- November 2008
USA- Late 2009
Europe- Spring 2009
http://ds.ign.com/articles/915/915510p1.html
Fire Emblem DS
Nintendo closed up it’s Media Summit Press Conference on October 2 with the announcement and demo of a long-awaited and fan-beloved role playing game: Fire Emblem.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is coming to the Nintendo DS.
According to Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sames and marketing for Nintendo, Fire Emblem will be released in the first half of 2009.
“For the first time, we’re going to have it in North America for the DS. It’s also the first-ever in the series to offer multiplayer online play," Dunaway said.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/915/915625p1.html
Mario and Luigi 3 Announced
Releases next year on DS in Japan and America.
Dragon Quest IX Video
http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=2189
DS Games Collage
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2008fall/mov/ds.html?n10
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... but I’m still looking forward to the new DSi, I read a rumor on IGN.com that both screens will be touch sensitive.
